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Quantum souls. Part one

The following article is the first in a three-part series dealing with scientific evidence supporting the existence of souls and an afterlife. There may be excerpts from A Quantum Soul in a Newtonian World (Outskirts Press, 2016) and The Quantum Afterlife (due out Fall of 2016).

Science is not the word of … umm … god.

Debunking the debunkers – there can be no proof, but there is scientific evidence, get over it.

TBA

1: Science is not the word of …umm… god.

Ever since the death of my son on September 2, 2014, I have been struggling with the concept of the soul, and by extension the existence of an afterlife. I wish I could believe in it. I want to believe in it. But, as a scientist, I am the type that needs rational arguments to convince me, and it seemed that the soul was too abstract for my mind. I am not one to resort to blind faith to believe in the soul. I needed evidence. I needed proof.

I was navigating the web one night, lost in despair, wanting nothing more than to be done with the pain, looking for this evidence – this proof – and I came upon a response from a Rabbi whose name I never did get. The Rabbi was responding to a young man who had lost his brother seven years earlier, who was looking for the same answers that I was. The Rabbi stated that even if our deceased loved ones were cloned to perfect identical duplication, down to the precise memories of your life together, something would still be missing. That even though that replicate might have your loved one’s expressions and thoughts, voice and mannerisms, s/he would be missing the spark that is unique to your loved one. And, that, he said, is what soul is.

I read his response over and over again. I realized that the soul – our soul – is the who of a person, rather than the what of a person. That my son had really only left his physical existence, but that he was still there (here?), somewhere, and that we will at some point, in some form, be together again. That we still were. Then I became aware of my own soul, and the souls of others who had passed, and I began to feel a universal tug; and my entire outlook on life, death, and the universe changed forever. I have walked between the worlds since, one foot in this physical, or Newtonian world, and one in the spirit realm, where quantum properties and characteristics are the norm.

I started to really pay attention to what other people were saying and doing, I began to thoroughly observe, with full sensory acceptance, how animals and plants interacted. I had been a biologist for decades, but only now was I really seeing what life and death were. And I was not alone.

With very few exceptions, the people I passively observed and actively interviewed said that they knew that there was something. The phrase life force was used quite a bit. But when I asked them if they thought this was their soul, they would hesitate. Some answered yes outright but others did not want to get hung up on religious semantics. They didn’t want to associate this spiritual ideal with stringent religious dogma. Very few defined soul using scientific definitions.

Why, I wondered, are so few people doing research into this, our only truth? We are all born to die. Dying and death are the only absolutes and yet we would rather sweep the concept under the rug and belittle the idea that there is something that enters the body upon birth and leaves upon dying. I decided right then and there to devote the rest of my life to investigating and researching the existence of the soul and all that that entails. Because I am a scientist, I will use scientific methods. It’s what I know and what I am comfortable with. But I also acknowledge that science is limited and limiting and as such is not the only way to investigate something.

Those of us who are conducting research into the realm of the beyond, other dimensions, soul’s journey, are blackballed from the rest of the scientific world. People would rather believe that I have lost my mind due to the trauma of losing my child then that I have been enlightened to what really happens upon dying. The fact of the matter is that the reality lies between the two. What is most interesting to me is that these same people who like to judge others, who place their own self-righteousness in place as some marker of truth and sanity, claim to believe, absolutely, in other theories and hypotheses which have not been proven, so why this particular bias? For them, it’s ok to know that atoms exist or that DNA is an absolute truth, when much of the science behind both shows only evidence of the existence, but never proof. Nothing in the universe is certain. Nothing.

It is highly probable that atoms and DNA exist. The evidence backs that up. But it is also highly probable that souls exist. The evidence is abundant on this theory as well. My book, A Quantum Soul in a Newtonian World, goes into detail on this, as does its sequel, A Quantum Afterlife.

The nay-sayers will say that our thoughts and life energy are simply extensions of the mind, but they can’t define exactly what the mind is. They say that it is all about impulses and sparks within the neurological network that makes up the brain, but they have no idea what that means either. No one does. Not fully. Not yet.

They say that we can prove thoughts and emotions as simple brain functions because we can record the changes in brainwaves as they occur. But when near death experiences occur, and complete cessation of brainwaves are recorded, and yet thoughts are still processed, they would rather believe that a dead brain can have hallucinations than that intelligent energy is somehow being transferred, as in a soul, from one dimension to another dimension.

They will not or cannot accept that there must be an energy, one that we cannot fully measure yet, that makes cells function and communicate, and that drives biological and chemical processes. There is nothing supernatural about our souls. There is nothing religious about the existence of our true selves. There is really nothing scientific about our souls other than that science is an acceptable means for providing evidence of the possibility of the thing.

When the quantum sciences came along and challenged the cogs and wheels mentality of Newtonian thinkers, they once again were selective in placing limitations. But until the advent of the internet and social media, it was a very hush-hush thing shared only within the science world and only within closed circles. Now it’s not so easy to hide facts and evidence; and it is much easier to share information and experiences.

Through the quantum sciences, in particular quantum biology, evidence of the existence of the very small and non-linear – those things that surround us but are invisible and behave in seemingly magical ways – can be gleaned.

The idea that we are quantum beings having materialistic experiences is a challenging paradigm for us because we were born into a three dimensional linearly aligned physicality. And for too long, that physicality has been defined within the limitations of Newtonian Laws, or rather by the followers of those laws, often times with their own interpretations – laws that place us as cogs and wheels in an enormous superficial machine with little room for forces beyond simple matter.

But we are not superficial machines that run on cogs and wheels. We are complex organisms made up of matter that is in turn made up of energy. Our physical bodies may fit neatly into Newton’s very limited world, but the force that drives these bodies, the intelligent energy that is behind thought and emotion, life and death, can only, for now, be explained through quantum science; and through the technologies we have not yet discovered or mastered.

Because of the nature of energy, we are very limited in our understanding of it, and so it becomes this magical thing that we either believe in or not… for now. But remember magic is simply science that has not yet been defined. Thus, anything that is too nebulous to understand, at the time, is labeled magic or philosophy.

We need to remember that at some point in history, in fact several points in history, everything we consider science now was considered magic then. By extension, everything that we consider magical now will be considered scientific in the future as technology evolves and understanding is gleaned. Even what we thought we understood, through scientific methodology, has changed. How many theories and hypotheses have been blown out of the water as we gain better insights?

We must remember that science is merely a human construct in and of itself. We fall under the excuse that magic is of gods, but science is of men. Not everyone believes in gods. Not everyone trusts the wisdoms of men.

We made science. We decided that magic and faith weren’t enough to go by so we created a system that would be more succinct and consistent, an attempt to even the playing field. But that succinctness and consistency is defined by us. We decide what succinct means. We decide what consistent means. Humans created language. Then we fit our scientific ideals within those constructs. We are making this up as we go along.

Always, the various disciplines of science, regardless of type, focus or methodology, were developed through the minds, hands and hearts of humans using the tools available to us at the time- tools that we either discovered or created, like fire, hammers, and computers.

And, because science is a human construct, it is at the mercy of its creators. Just like magic. Like small gods giving birth to worlds, the creator and the created fused; and the philosophies grew with their followers. And so too did the limitations.

And yet everyone wants scientific proof of anything being espoused. Until they are given that proof, they label the entity as metaphysical, paranormal, or supernatural. But science is not about proof. It is about evidence. Science cannot prove anything because proof is subjective. The only person who can prove anything to me is me. Only I can decide if something is true or not. The evidence of the thing is objective. Evidence cannot buckle under opinion. It’s just data. Personal bias cannot sway evidence. It doesn’t matter what you think, the facts are just the facts.

Selective wiles and cyclical arguments are the hallmarks of close-minded, biased, judgmental people. Why do we care what fanatics from either extreme believe or do not believe? They are ignorant bullies who think that by using words bigger than the ones you use makes them superior and therefore they must be right. They may not be right.

We have been taught to think in terms of human experiences and not soul experiences. This is a necessity since we are in a physical form in a dimension that is based on time and space. Unfortunately, we get tangled up in this physicality and forget how to communicate that which is most important to our existence. Perhaps that’s part of the experience. We simply need to break through the static.

We are quantum souls living in a Newtonian world. Science is not the end all to be all, but it’s what we have so let’s use it responsibly recognizing the limitations.

A book titled “Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the Nature of the Universe“ has stirred up the Internet, because it contained a notion that life does not end when the body dies, and it can last forever. The author of this publication, scientist Dr. Robert Lanza who was voted the 3rd most important scientist alive by the NY Times, has no doubts that this is possible.

Beyond time and space

Lanza is an expert in regenerative medicine and scientific director of Advanced Cell Technology Company. Before he has been known for his extensive research which dealt with stem cells, he was also famous for several successful experiments on cloning endangered animal species.

But not so long ago, the scientist became involved with physics, quantum mechanics and astrophysics. This explosive mixture has given birth to the new theory of biocentrism, which the professor has been preaching ever since. Biocentrism teaches that life and consciousness are fundamental to the universe. It is consciousness that creates the material universe, not the other way around.

Lanza points to the structure of the universe itself, and that the laws, forces, and constants of the universe appear to be fine-tuned for life, implying intelligence existed prior to matter. He also claims that space and time are not objects or things, but rather tools of our animal understanding. Lanza says that we carry space and time around with us “like turtles with shells.” meaning that when the shell comes off (space and time), we still exist.

The theory implies that death of consciousness simply does not exist. It only exists as a thought because people identify themselves with their body. They believe that the body is going to perish, sooner or later, thinking their consciousness will disappear too. If the body generates consciousness, then consciousness dies when the body dies. But if the body receives consciousness in the same way that a cable box receives satellite signals, then of course consciousness does not end at the death of the physical vehicle. In fact, consciousness exists outside of constraints of time and space. It is able to be anywhere: in the human body and outside of it. In other words, it is non-local in the same sense that quantum objects are non-local.

Lanza also believes that multiple universes can exist simultaneously. In one universe, the body can be dead. And in another it continues to exist, absorbing consciousness which migrated into this universe. This means that a dead person while traveling through the same tunnel ends up not in hell or in heaven, but in a similar world he or she once inhabited, but this time alive. And so on, infinitely. It’s almost like a cosmic Russian doll afterlife effect.

Multiple worlds

This hope-instilling, but extremely controversial theory by Lanza has many unwitting supporters, not just mere mortals who want to live forever, but also some well-known scientists. These are the physicists and astrophysicists who tend to agree with existence of parallel worlds and who suggest the possibility of multiple universes. Multiverse (multi-universe) is a so-called scientific concept, which they defend. They believe that no physical laws exist which would prohibit the existence of parallel worlds.

The first one was a science fiction writer H.G. Wells who proclaimed in 1895 in his story “The Door in the Wall”. And after 62 years, this idea was developed by Dr. Hugh Everett in his graduate thesis at the Princeton University. It basically posits that at any given moment the universe divides into countless similar instances. And the next moment, these “newborn” universes split in a similar fashion. In some of these worlds you may be present: reading this article in one universe, or watching TV in another.

The triggering factor for these multiplyingworlds is our actions, explained Everett. If we make some choices, instantly one universe splits into two with different versions of outcomes.

In the 1980s, Andrei Linde, scientist from the Lebedev’s Institute of physics, developed the theory of multiple universes. He is now a professor at Stanford University. Linde explained: Space consists of many inflating spheres, which give rise to similar spheres, and those, in turn, produce spheres in even greater numbers, and so on to infinity. In the universe, they are spaced apart. They are not aware of each other’s existence. But they represent parts of the same physical universe.

The fact that our universe is not alone is supported by data received from the Planck space telescope. Using the data, scientists have created the most accurate map of the microwave background, the so-called cosmic relic background radiation, which has remained since the inception of our universe. They also found that the universe has a lot of dark recesses represented by some holes and extensive gaps.

Theoretical physicist Laura Mersini-Houghton from the North Carolina University with her colleagues argue: the anomalies of the microwave background exist due to the fact that our universe is influenced by other universes existing nearby. And holes and gaps are a direct result of attacks on us by neighboring universes.

The Scientific Explanation For The Soul

So, there is abundance of places or other universes where our soul could migrate after death, according to the theory of neo-biocentrism. But does the soul exist? Is there any scientific theory of consciousness that could accommodate such a claim? According to Dr. Stuart Hameroff, a near-death experience happens when the quantum information that inhabits the nervous system leaves the body and dissipates into the universe. Contrary to materialistic accounts of consciousness, Dr. Hameroff offers an alternative explanation of consciousness that can perhaps appeal to both the rational scientific mind and personal intuitions.

Consciousness resides, according to Stuart and British physicist Sir Roger Penrose, in the microtubules of the brain cells, which are the primary sites of quantum processing. Upon death, this information is released from your body, meaning that your consciousness goes with it. They have argued that our experience of consciousness is the result of quantum gravity effects in these microtubules, a theory which they dubbed orchestrated objective reduction (Orch-OR).

Consciousness is a property like space and time

Consciousness, or at least proto-consciousness is theorized by them to be a fundamental property of the universe, present even at the first moment of the universe during the Big Bang. “In one such scheme proto-conscious experience is a basic property of physical reality accessible to a quantum process associated with brain activity.”

Our souls are in fact constructed from the very fabric of the universe – and may have existed since the beginning of time. Our brains are just receivers and amplifiers for the proto-consciousness that is intrinsic to the fabric of space-time. So is there really a part of your consciousness that is non-material and will live on after the death of your physical body?

Dr Hameroff told the Science Channel’s Through the Wormhole documentary: “Let’s say the heart stops beating, the blood stops flowing, the microtubules lose their quantum state. The quantum information within the microtubules is not destroyed, it can’t be destroyed, it just distributes and dissipates to the universe at large”. Robert Lanza would add here that not only does it exist in the universe, it exists perhaps in another universe.

If the patient is resuscitated, revived, this quantum information can go back into the microtubules and the patient says “I had a near death experience”‘

He adds: “If they’re not revived, and the patient dies, it’s possible that this quantum information can exist outside the body, perhaps indefinitely, as a soul.”

This account of quantum consciousness explains things like near-death experiences, astral projection, out of body experiences, and even reincarnationwithout needing to appeal to religious ideology. The energy of your consciousness potentially gets recycled back into a different body at some point, and in the mean time it exists outside of the physical body on some other level of reality, and possibly in another universe.

The leading book in the field of past life regression has long been Dr. Brian Weiss’ Many Lives, Many Masters. Nine out of ten people who contact me for regression have read it. It stands as most people’s sole reference point. Without it, I don’t know that past life regression would have survived its initial surge in popularity in the 80’s and 90’s. Published in 1988, it remains a compelling tale of therapy and healing over 25 years later. The power of the story displayed the potential of the tool, though it did not tell us what to do with that power.

Over the last few decades, a handful of competent professional manuals, handbooks and journals have been printed, though few have revitalized the thinking that was presented decades ago. Many gifted practitioners have offered their methods in a clinical and procedural manner, replete with structured theories on specific times and places which occur before and after life that are inherently spiritual. The name itself, “Past Life Regression,” suggests a succession of past lifetimes, which can render the interpretation of regression experiences as something other than past lifetimes — or something more — as anathema.

Like meditation, sex and rollercoasters, past life regression is an experience. Having and sharing these experiences is often so intoxicating and evocative, you can easily lose yourself in devotion to it. Talking about these experiences is akin to describing music. You just have to hear it.

Interpreting Spiritual Information

When leading a workshop, I’ll sometimes ask, “Who here considers past life regression spiritual information?” Generally, everyone will raise his or her hand. Then I’ll ask, “What is spiritual information?” To which most people will look around and sit quietly until I admit that I do not know either.

My journey into the interpretation of spiritual information began in Turkey in 2007 when I was told that I would have what I wanted and it would come easily. She was an Istanbul local named Ferme, reading my coffee grinds. Before a reading of coffee grinds, you drink a cup of Turkish coffee which is generally a dark, rich, semi-sweet equivalent to an espresso, and when finished turns the cup over on its saucer, spilling the grinds. Ferme was studying to become a regression therapist under my father, the late Dr. Jeffrey Ryan.

Hypnosis and past life regression are the family business. English was not Ferme’s first language. When she told me “You’ll have what you want and it will come easily,” it was immediately followed by a rush of dopamine to my head confirming the good news. Until some time later when I began to consider its usefulness (and my naiveté), along with all the other information occupying this nebulous area of my understanding. The advice from psychics and intuitives, the passing commentary of therapists and teachers, the interpretations of astrologers and tarot readers, the wisdom of mystics and seers, my father’s words… How do we know what is useful? How do we measure truth without the benefit of mathematics?

I don’t claim to know the answers to these questions. They are philosophical and somewhat rhetorical. As the words are examined, I’m reminded that language is simply a set of symbols or tools. How then do we interpret the symbols? How do we use the tools?

I take no position — professionally or personally — on which of my client’s experiences are real and which are unreal. I do not see it as my job to qualify my clients and student’s experiences for them.

I do help them to interpret the information. I do offer my opinions and guidance where I think it will illuminate. My “belief” in reincarnation is a small observation with large implications. All I see around me are cycles of life beginning, ending and beginning again. Why would we be any different? Perhaps Voltaire said it best centuries ago: “It is not more surprising to be born twice than once; everything in nature is resurrection.” I make no claim to understand how it works, nor do I disqualify anyone else’s beliefs, but it does appear to me this happens.

About Past Life Regression

During a past life regression you are ideally in a deep state of relaxation that is easy, present, open and aware. The guidance you receive during the average regression will be much like a guided meditation, and will usually begin with progressive relaxation or guided imagery. In this state you will be walked through a series of immersive experiences that may or may not be memories of past lifetimes. The “memories” themselves should be produced by your subconscious mind, and appear to you as if they were being revealed (the dodgy nature of memory notwithstanding). Your attention rests with the senses as you explore the scene. Questions are asked and connections are made to and from the past; the origins of a phobia are finally understood, the roots of a difficult relationship are discovered, loved ones who have passed are reconnected with.

Practitioner methods vary widely depending upon where they trained, who with, the purpose of the regression, as well as their personal preferences, among other things. As with meditation, there is no right way or wrong way. Past life regression is a balance between technique and artistry, guiding the experience confidently and remaining open, intuitive and spontaneous. The practitioner provides the context for the experience; the client provides the content of the experience.

Regulation and certification within the field are both commendable and dubious. I know countless inspiring therapists who do this work actively fighting to raise and maintain professional standards. And I know snake oil salesmen who have polluted the field. All forms of professional and spiritual competition are present, to equally dramatic and comedic effect. Even Dr. Weiss’ story in Many Lives, Many Masters mentions his own censure from the American Medical Association when he became vocal about past life regression. While giant strides have been made and many battles won, in my experience misconceptions and fearful thinking still pervade popular beliefs, especially concerning hypnosis.

Past life regression dates back centuries, though it has only been clinically studied for the past four decades, beginning with Ian Stevenson’s 1974 book Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation, in which he examines the spontaneous recall of previous lives by young children. It is self-evident that this phenomena deserves study and attention, as the insights it offers into the nature of consciousness, and the potential it offers for healing, are both grand and real. It is also clear that these experiences act as metaphors for what we’re experiencing in the present, which in turn points to other possibilities.

Perhaps these experiences connect to the unconscious through metaphor in a manner similar to dreams. Perhaps symbolic reasoning — the uniquely human ability that allows us to use language, exchange money, and comprehend layers of meaning — offers a meta-narrative for the expression of dominant themes in your life at the present moment.

During the past life regression experience, we appear to access a great storytelling machine that pulls out characters, connections and conflicts from an archetypal, Jungian collective unconscious. At the same time, it can be a tremendous creative aid for storytellers. Among my greatest joys have been working dynamically with creative professionals and artists who use past life regression in this fashion.

Moving Past Past Lives

As I see it, in order to advance past life regression the possibility space must be expanded. The groundbreaking discoveries of 40 years ago are reductive today. Regression taps into parts of the brain and the unconscious that we are only beginning to understand. The narratives that arise are immersive, surprising — simultaneously strange and familiar. The act of exploring these states and interpreting them requires great care.

I suggest to my clients and students that they resist the temptation to place their experiences “into a box.” Instead of deciding that what they saw was definitely a past life, or not (or a half-recollection of a book, or a film mixed with a dream…), we should first accept that these stories change as we do. They act as your own personal mythology, and offer new wisdom over time, just like Aesop’s Fables. If we limit our thinking and determine that the experience is definitively this or that, we limit our capacity to learn from it.

As we guess at what occurs after life, I’m often reminded that past life regression is neither a time machine nor a fixed perspective. My sense is that we do not travel into the past or future. But our minds do, all the time. There remains only one time and place where change can happen, and that is in the present. If any one of us somehow managed to possess all the wisdom in the universe, we could still only use it right now.

A teacher once told me that an ocean of knowledge simply cannot fit into the teacup of the mind. In my own practice and in my experiences of past life regression, I’ve come to see the investigation of the afterlife as a rich and seductive area of study, as well as a distraction where the truth can only be guessed.

The imperative, as I see it, is to continue these explorations into our consciousness, our selves. Tools like meditation, hypnotherapy and regression therapy remain mysterious. They are misunderstood largely because we lack a common vocabulary to discuss them and their efficacy. Today, when oceans of knowledge literally do exist on the Internet, available on our phones, studies into projections of the self, non-duality and cycles of life can be undertaken in any living room or on any park bench. We can learn to work with our brains, aligning our habits and diets to optimize relaxed learning states. We can use the past as a school and meditate peacefully in waking daily life, exploring the territory with one shared map.

In the Car, with My Dad

I was a teenager returning home from a past life regression workshop that my father had led. We were driving to Morristown, NJ. It was probably a Sunday. I had been with him all day as he worked with a group of about 20 people, leading them in and out of deep trance states and exploring what may be memories of past lives. I was half assistant/half participant.

After a pause in the conversation he said, “I’m kinda looking forward to dying.” Incredulous, I asked what he meant. He responded “I want to know if there are past lives or not.” My father served for a time as the President of the Association for Past Life Research and Therapies.

It remains thrilling to me, the candid omission of a spiritual teacher, expressing his uncertainty in private conversation with his son. The conversations I have with my clients, students, friends and family feel to me as if I’m still in the car with my dad. There we can comfortably express our doubt and marvel together at the mystery. If past life regression has taught me anything, it’s that we are all in this together.

New Study Challenges Common Assumptions About Consciousness and Death

The problem of studying what happens to consciousness when we die has plagued empiricists for millennia. How do we measure consciousness and how do we observe it once it leaves the body?

Researchers at the University of Southampton, UK, have found one way around this dilemma by examining the experiences of over 300 individuals from the U.S, U.K. and Australia who had undergone cardiac arrest and been declared ‘clinically dead’ before they were resuscitated and brought back to life. According to the study, published this week in the Journal of Resuscitation, nearly 40% of respondents reported some kind of ‘conscious awareness’ during the time that they were clinically dead.

Myth 1: Conscious Ceases to Exist When the Dody Dies

According to study lead investigator Dr. Sam Parnia, the brain can only stay alive for 20-30 seconds once heart stops beating. And yet, some respondents in this study reported conscious awareness that lasted for minutes after they were declared clinically dead, a finding that Dr. Parnia describes as “paradoxcial” when compared to accepted scientific beliefs.

In one particular instance, a 57 year-old male reported rising up out of his body and watching medical staff attempting to resuscitate him for minutes while he was clinically dead. Surprisingly, he recollected the event exactly as it happened, from the attempts of nursing staff to resuscitate him, right down to hearing two beeps from a machine that makes a noise every three minutes. These findings suggests that consciousness may continue to exist for some duration of time even after the heart and brain cease functioning.

Myth 2: Dying is an Instant and Immediate Process

Modern medicine traditionally assumes that death is a quick and immediate process: The heart stops, and within 20-30 seconds, the brain ceases to function and the body follows suit. Without blood pumping oxygen through the veins, a human life is over in only a few minutes.

However, these findings imply that death may be a much more gradual, slower process than scientists had previously considered. The fact that so many respondents continued to maintain conscious awareness after being clinically dead, even after being resuscitated minutes later, suggests that perhaps death does not happen quickly over the course of a few seconds, or even a few minutes. We simply do not know how long it actually takes for consciousness to leave the body after death.

Myth 3: Everyone Experiences Death The Same Way

According to this study, not everyone feels a sense of peace and sees a white light when they die (although some people do!) Respondents reported a wide variety of experiences and sensations while they were deemed ‘clinically dead.’ Twenty percent did feel peaceful, while one third felt that time either slowed down or sped up. Thirteen percent felt dissociated from their bodies, while another thirteen percent felt that their senses were actually heightened. Some respondents did see a bright white light, while others felt like they were drowning or being pulled underwater. It is also possible that other respondents had experiences they could not remember due to the effects of sedative drugs or brain injuries.

The results indicate that the experience of death may be one of the most subjective experiences of all.

Myth 4: The Visions Experienced During Death are Only Hallucinations

When we die, a large amount of Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), one the most powerful psychedelic substances in the known world, is secreted from the pineal gland in our brain. But this does not mean that the visions experienced during death are mere hallucinations, as has typically been assumed by medical doctors.

The case of the man who witnessed with exact clarity the nurses’ attempt to resuscitate him shows us that not every vision that happens during death is an illusion. In this case, the accuracy of the clinically dead man’s report indicates that it may be possible for our senses to continue to perceive reality even when our brain and body has shut off.

Is it possible that conscious awareness can persist even after the body is clinically dead because consciousness resides not within the body, but somewhere outside of it? The implications of this study are far reaching and certainly deserving of further thought and investigation.

Are You an Old Soul?

How can you tell if you are an old soul? Are there differences in traits or behaviors? What signs can I look for that can help me differentiate the difference?

Generally speaking, we are all old souls, but some of us have been here longer than others.

The word “old” is only relative to time. Because time is linear and our souls are eternal, 10,000 years would be the blink of an eye.

Dolores Cannon believes that we need to incarnate many, many times as inanimate objects, plants and animals before we can become human. Then, as humans, we still need to incarnate many, many times to learn all of the lessons we came here for. For example, according to Cannon, we all had to be an air molecule and a drop of water to learn what it’s like to work together as ONE.

16 Ways To Tell If You Are An Old Soul

1. You understand many of life’s deeper lessons.

For some people, it is hard to fathom that the soul of a child may be much older than the soul of his or her parents. For these particular people, this is a sign that their soul might be younger than yours. When you begin to understand why you keep incarnating to this 3rd dimensional reality, it becomes similar to the movie, Groundhog Day, where Phil wakes up each day to find out that it’s still February 2nd until he learns how to remove his ego and starts doing kind deeds for others.

Once you realize that time, space, energy and matter are 3rd dimensional products, the theory of time becomes irrelevant, thus the theory of how old your soul is also becomes irrelevant.

But for the sake of understanding how old your soul may be, we’ll continue!

2. You are in touch with your natural abilities or have an extreme interest in these abilities.

Some people are born with innate gifts, such as special healing abilities or psychic abilities. The truth is that we all possess these abilities, but an older soul is more in tune with how to access and implement these abilities in the name of humanity. If you don’t have any particular ability, but have a strong interest in them, this is simply your soul trying to recall these abilities that you may have had in a previous lifetime.

3. You become spiritually aware.

Everyone is pure consciousness, but many people have a difficult time understand what this means. Your soul is pure consciousness and love. It has a unique understanding of how the matrix is being played on this planet and understands that everything we do as a collective will help to facilitate the awakening of others.

4. You understand the importance forgiveness.

Some people are old souls who still have much to learn because they are trapped inside the box with their ideologies, are stubborn or have not learned the importance of forgiveness. By forgiving yourself and others, we can release any karma between these people.

5. You’re able to transcend ego.

It’s nearly impossible for anyone to completely transcend ego 100% of the time but simply being aware of our ego and how it plays against unity consciousness is a definite sign on an old soul. On the other side, there is no ego. During your life review, you will re-live your ego and will see how it affected others, as well as yourself. At this point in “time”, you will probably make a soul contract with the hopes of overcoming ego and atoning for whatever ego issues you had in your previous incarnation.

6. You’re able to transcend materialism.

Money and materialism are products of this 3rd dimensional reality and it’s easy to succumb to materialism, especially when it’s in your face through advertising, programming and peer pressure. An older soul realizes that money is non-existent on the other side and it generally takes away from who we truly are as spiritual beings. Those who are older souls will generally use money as a tool to either help facilitate their spiritual progression through spiritual retreats or by possibly creating a lavish feng shui home decorated with spiritual meaning versus the most luxurious furnishings. They may also use their money to help others who are less fortunate.…

7. You are able to understand the concept that your body is a shell for your soul.

Before you were born, you not only chose your parents, you also chose your life situations and challenges that would help to facilitate your spiritual growth while atoning for any previous karma. The body that you are currently in is simply a vessel for your soul. Your name is what your soul currently refers itself as, but in previous lifetimes, you had many different names and you have lived many previous lives as either a male or a female. Your name and title are both associated with ego because ultimately, you are infinite consciousness and we are all on the same team.

8. You seem to have a special connection to eras long before you were born.

Did you ever watch an old movie or see some artwork from a specific era in time and have a connection to that era? Chances are, you lived a previous life during that time period and this is your cellular memory letting you know!

9. You have an understanding of what you need to do to complete your spiritual progression.

Just by making it this far, you are more awakened than most people on this planet. You have an understanding of Universal laws and what is left to do on your soul contract. Even if you are not specifically sure of either, your higher self and spirit guides will continue lead you in the right direction.

10.You have a strong feeling that home isn’t Earth.

Did you ever look at a random area of the sky and star at an unknown star for no particular reason? Do you have a special connection with specific star systems such as the Pleiades or Orion’s Belt? Do wars and corruption make you feel uneasy, as if they didn’t exist where you originally came from? Are you one of the souls who volunteered to come here at this specific point in time to help with the Earth’s ascension? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then chances are, Earth is not your home planet.

11. You tend to be a loner.

The stigma on the word loner is often condescending, but those who are old souls are merely looking for other fragments of themselves and will often distance themselves from younger souls who need more incarnations into a 3rd dimensional planet. Older souls will seek out other like-mided people because there’s a comfort and familiarity with these types of people who will help to facilitate each others spiritual progression.

12. You have a rebellious nature.

Whether you rebel from religion, laws or anything else, this is a sign that your soul knows the only true laws… the Laws of the Universe. While you respect the reasoning and intention behind laws and religion, you might not be compelled to use these as absolute laws when you know there are a set of higher laws that are intended to facilitate our spiritual progressions.

13. You have a burning desire to attain truth and inner wisdom.

Many older souls can easily see through the lies we’ve been taught through religion, politics and through our educational facilities. While they realize they are all one with the universe, they also want the truth exposed to help other people’s awakening process. They also continue to seek knowledge in the spiritual, metaphysical and esoteric fields and will absorb this information much easier than anything they were taught in school.

14. You are not controlling of others.

Older souls are more accepting, not just of other people, but of circumstances as well. For example, while you don’t approve of the corruption within politics, you understand how the corruption will help to awaken other people to the truth. You respect the free will of others and are more likely to use tact than verbal demands of others. You tend to be more of a team player than anything else.

15. You sense a separation between yourself and the “real world”.

As you transcend ego and materialism, you find yourself living a different lifestyle. While this lifestyle is unique to your current incarnation, there also seems to be a familiarity of the direction you’re heading.

16. You are curious whether you’re an old soul or not.

Many young souls wouldn’t ask this question or much less be concerned about it. While many older souls aren’t concerned either, for different reasons, they simply “know” they’re old souls, but it’s nice to have affirmations that coincide with your spiritual progression.

There are many lessons we have learned throughout our lifetimes, all of which has culminated into this particular incarnation. All of your previous life incarnations are embedded into your cellular memory and can be recalled through past life regressions. Most of the people on this planet are old souls, yet many remain unawakened and still have a lot more to learn and will need several more incarnations to a 3rd dimensional planet.

Many of those who are awakened will probably move on to their next level of spiritual progression. It’s important to remember that this is not a race because in the end, we all win. Enjoy every millisecond in this incarnation because this may be the last time you’ll ever experience a 3rd dimensional reality!

About the Author:

Gregg Prescott, M.S. is the founder and editor of In5D and BodyMindSoulSpirit.He hosts a weekly spiritual show on In5D Radio and promotes spiritual, metaphysical and esoteric conferences in the United States through In5dEvents. Gregg is currently working in collaboration with Michelle Walling, CHLC, in opening a holistic walk-in clinic called Alternative Holistic Healthcare (AHH) in Sarasota, FL with subsequent subsidiaries around the world based upon this model.

A book titled “Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the Nature of the Universe“ has stirred up the Internet, because it contained a notion that life does not end when the body dies, and it can last forever. The author of this publication, scientist Dr. Robert Lanza who was voted the 3rd most important scientist alive by the NY Times, has no doubts that this is possible.

Beyond time and space

Lanza is an expert in regenerative medicine and scientific director of Advanced Cell Technology Company. Before he has been known for his extensive research which dealt with stem cells, he was also famous for several successful experiments on cloning endangered animal species.

But not so long ago, the scientist became involved with physics, quantum mechanics and astrophysics. This explosive mixture has given birth to the new theory of biocentrism, which the professor has been preaching ever since. Biocentrism teaches that life and consciousness are fundamental to the universe. It is consciousness that creates the material universe, not the other way around.

Lanza points to the structure of the universe itself, and that the laws, forces, and constants of the universe appear to be fine-tuned for life, implying intelligence existed prior to matter. He also claims that space and time are not objects or things, but rather tools of our animal understanding. Lanza says that we carry space and time around with us “like turtles with shells.” meaning that when the shell comes off (space and time), we still exist.

The theory implies that death of consciousness simply does not exist. It only exists as a thought because people identify themselves with their body. They believe that the body is going to perish, sooner or later, thinking their consciousness will disappear too. If the body generates consciousness, then consciousness dies when the body dies.

But if the body receives consciousness in the same way that a cable box receives satellite signals, then of course consciousness does not end at the death of the physical vehicle. In fact, consciousness exists outside of constraints of time and space. It is able to be anywhere: in the human body and outside of it. In other words, it is non-local in the same sense that quantum objects are non-local.

Lanza also believes that multiple universes can exist simultaneously. In one universe, the body can be dead. And in another it continues to exist, absorbing consciousness which migrated into this universe. This means that a dead person while traveling through the same tunnel ends up not in hell or in heaven, but in a similar world he or she once inhabited, but this time alive. And so on, infinitely. It’s almost like a cosmic Russian doll afterlife effect.

Multiple worlds

This hope-instilling, but extremely controversial theory by Lanza has many unwitting supporters, not just mere mortals who want to live forever, but also some well-known scientists. These are the physicists and astrophysicists who tend to agree with existence of parallel worlds and who suggest the possibility of multiple universes. Multiverse (multi-universe) is a so-called scientific concept, which they defend. They believe that no physical laws exist which would prohibit the existence of parallel worlds.

The first one was a science fiction writer H.G. Wells who proclaimed in 1895 in his story “The Door in the Wall”. And after 62 years, this idea was developed by Dr. Hugh Everett in his graduate thesis at the Princeton University. It basically posits that at any given moment the universe divides into countless similar instances. And the next moment, these “newborn” universes split in a similar fashion. In some of these worlds you may be present: reading this article in one universe, or watching TV in another.

The triggering factor for these multiplyingworlds is our actions, explained Everett. If we make some choices, instantly one universe splits into two with different versions of outcomes.

In the 1980s, Andrei Linde, scientist from the Lebedev’s Institute of physics, developed the theory of multiple universes. He is now a professor at Stanford University. Linde explained: Space consists of many inflating spheres, which give rise to similar spheres, and those, in turn, produce spheres in even greater numbers, and so on to infinity. In the universe, they are spaced apart. They are not aware of each other’s existence. But they represent parts of the same physical universe.

The fact that our universe is not alone is supported by data received from the Planck space telescope. Using the data, scientists have created the most accurate map of the microwave background, the so-called cosmic relic background radiation, which has remained since the inception of our universe. They also found that the universe has a lot of dark recesses represented by some holes and extensive gaps.

Theoretical physicist Laura Mersini-Houghton from the North Carolina University with her colleagues argue: the anomalies of the microwave background exist due to the fact that our universe is influenced by other universes existing nearby. And holes and gaps are a direct result of attacks on us by neighboring universes.

Soul

So, there is abundance of places or other universes where our soul could migrate after death, according to the theory of neo-biocentrism. But does the soul exist? Is there any scientific theory of consciousness that could accommodate such a claim? According to Dr. Stuart Hameroff, a near-death experience happens when the quantum information that inhabits the nervous system leaves the body and dissipates into the universe. Contrary to materialistic accounts of consciousness, Dr. Hameroff offers an alternative explanation of consciousness that can perhaps appeal to both the rational scientific mind and personal intuitions.

Consciousness resides, according to Stuart and British physicist Sir Roger Penrose, in the microtubules of the brain cells, which are the primary sites of quantum processing. Upon death, this information is released from your body, meaning that your consciousness goes with it. They have argued that our experience of consciousness is the result of quantum gravity effects in these microtubules, a theory which they dubbed orchestrated objective reduction (Orch-OR).

Consciousness, or at least proto-consciousness is theorized by them to be a fundamental property of the universe, present even at the first moment of the universe during the Big Bang. “In one such scheme proto-conscious experience is a basic property of physical reality accessible to a quantum process associated with brain activity.”

Our souls are in fact constructed from the very fabric of the universe – and may have existed since the beginning of time. Our brains are just receivers and amplifiers for the proto-consciousness that is intrinsic to the fabric of space-time. So is there really a part of your consciousness that is non-material and will live on after the death of your physical body?

Dr Hameroff told the Science Channel’s Through the Wormhole documentary: “Let’s say the heart stops beating, the blood stops flowing, the microtubules lose their quantum state. The quantum information within the microtubules is not destroyed, it can’t be destroyed, it just distributes and dissipates to the universe at large”. Robert Lanza would add here that not only does it exist in the universe, it exists perhaps in another universe.

Quantum Theory Proves That Consciousness Moves to Another Universe After Death

A book titled “Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the Nature of the Universe“, published in the USA, has stirred up the Internet, because it contained a notion that life does not end when the body dies, and it can last forever. The author of this publication, scientist Robert Lanza has no doubts that this is possible.

Beyond time and space

Lanza is an expert in regenerative medicine and scientific director of Advanced Cell Technology Company. Before he has been known for his extensive research which dealt with stem cells, he was also famous for several successful experiments on cloning endangered animal species.

But not so long ago, the scientist became involved with physics, quantum mechanics and astrophysics. This explosive mixture has given birth to the new theory of biocentrism, which the professor has been preaching ever since.

The theory implies that death simply does not exist. It is an illusion which arises in the minds of people. It exists because people identify themselves with their body. They believe that the body is going to perish, sooner or later, thinking their consciousness will disappear too. In fact, consciousness exists outside of constraints of time and space. It is able to be anywhere: in the human body and outside of it. That fits well with the basic postulates of quantum mechanics science, according to which a certain particle can be present anywhere and an event can happen according to several, sometimes countless, ways.

Lanza believes that multiple universes can exist simultaneously. These universes contain multiple ways for possible scenarios to occur. In one universe, the body can be dead. And in another it continues to exist, absorbing consciousness which migrated into this universe.

This means that a dead person while traveling through the same tunnel ends up not in hell or in heaven, but in a similar world he or she once inhabited, but this time alive. And so on, infinitely.

Multiple worlds

This hope-instilling, but extremely controversial theory by Lanza has many unwitting supporters, not just mere mortals who want to live forever, but also some well-known scientists. These are the physicists and astrophysicists who tend to agree with existence of parallel worlds and who suggest the possibility of multiple universes. Multiverse (multi-universe) is a so-called scientific concept, which they defend. They believe that no physical laws exist which would prohibit the existence of parallel worlds.

The first one was a science fiction writer H.G. Wells who proclaimed in 1895 in his story “The Door in the Wall”. And after 62 years, this idea was developed by Hugh Everett in his graduate thesis at the Princeton University. It basically posits that at any given moment the universe divides into countless similar instances. And the next moment, these “newborn” universes split in a similar fashion. In some of these worlds you may be present: reading this article in one universe, or watching TV in another.

The triggering factor for these multiplying worlds is our actions, explained Everett. If we make some choices, instantly one universe splits into two with different versions of outcomes.

In the 1980s, Andrei Linde, scientist from the Lebedev’s Institute of physics, developed the theory of multiple universes. He is now a professor at Stanford University.

Linde explained: Space consists of many inflating spheres, which give rise to similar spheres, and those, in turn, produce spheres in even greater numbers, and so on to infinity. In the universe, they are spaced apart. They are not aware of each other’s existence. But they represent parts of the same physical universe.

The fact that our universe is not alone is supported by data received from the Planck space telescope. Using the data, scientists have created the most accurate map of the microwave background, the so-called cosmic relic background radiation, which has remained since the inception of our universe. They also found that the universe has a lot of dark recesses represented by some holes and extensive gaps.

Theoretical physicist Laura Mersini-Houghton from the North Carolina University with her colleagues argue: the anomalies of the microwave background exist due to the fact that our universe is influenced by other universes existing nearby. And holes and gaps are a direct result of attacks on us by neighboring universes.

Soul quanta

So, there is abundance of places or other universes where our soul could migrate after death, according to the theory of neo-biocentrism. But does the soul exist?

Professor Stuart Hameroff from the University of Arizona has no doubts about the existence of eternal soul. As recently as last year, he announced that he has found evidence that consciousness does not perish after death.

According to Hameroff, the human brain is the perfect quantum computer and the soul or consciousness is simply information stored at the quantum level. It can be transferred, following the death of the body; quantum information represented by consciousness merges with our universe and exist there indefinitely. The biocentrism expert Lanza proves that the soul migrates to another universe. That is the main difference from his other colleagues.

Sir Roger Penrose, a famous British physicist and expert in mathematics from Oxford, supports this theory, and he has also found traces of contact with other universes. Together, the scientists are developing quantum theory to explain the phenomenon of consciousness. They believe that they found carriers of consciousness, the elements that accumulate information during life, and after death of the body they “drain” consciousness somewhere else. These elements are located inside protein-based microtubules (neuronal microtubules), which previously have been attributed a simple role of reinforcement and transport channeling inside a living cell. Based on their structure, microtubules are best suited to function as carriers of quantum properties inside the brain. That is mainly because they are able to retain quantum states for a long time, meaning they can function as elements of a quantum computer.

US Philosopher Given $5M Grant To Study Immortality

A University of California at Riverside (UCR) philosopher will be placed in charge of a new project analyzing the concept of immortality after receiving the largest grant ever presented to a humanities professor at the school, various media outlets reported last week.

The $5 million grant was presented to the school by the John Templeton Foundation, a Pennsylvania-based organization founded by the late businessman, philanthropist, and stock market pioneer that is dedicated to studying the deepest, most complex questions about the nature of life and the purpose of mankind, Los Angeles Times blogger Larry Gordon said.

“We will be very careful in documenting near-death experiences and other phenomena, trying to figure out if these offer plausible glimpses of an afterlife or are biologically induced illusions,” Fischer said in a statement, according to Christopher Shea of the Wall Street Journal.

“Our approach will be uncompromisingly scientifically rigorous. We’re not going to spend money to study alien-abduction reports. We will look at near-death experiences and try to find out what’s going on there — what is promising, what is nonsense, and what is scientifically debunked. We may find something important about our lives and our values, even if not glimpses into an afterlife,” he added.

The research, which is being dubbed the Immortality Project, will be a collaborative study involving scientists, philosophers, and theological experts. The inclusion of that last group has led to some criticism of the project, Business Insider’s Adam Taylor said.

Opponents are arguing that the religious aspects of the immortality issue have no place in serious scientific research, he said, and atheists have long been critical of the Templeton Foundation’s handling of the interaction between science and theology, Shea added.

Fischer, who is a member of the Templeton Foundation’s board, describes himself as a man who is not religious but has a great deal of respect for religion. Regardless, he told Gordon that his personal views, the inclusion of religious experts and the source of the grant “doesn’t mean we are trying to prove anything or the other. We will be trying to be very scientific and rigorous and be very open-minded.”

Ray Bradbury, known for his imaginative and evocative tales of Martian lands and sinister carnival characters, died Tuesday (June 5) at the age of 91.

During his lengthy career as a sci-fi writer, Bradbury mused on death (and life) at length, even citing his inspiration for writing as a desire to live forever.

Here are some of Bradbury’s most provocative thoughts on dying.

Writing as the protagonist’s dying grandmother in his 1957 novel “Dandelion Wine”:

“Important thing is not the me that’s lying here, but the me that’s sitting on the edge of the bed looking back at me, and the me that’s downstairs cooking supper, or out in the garage under the car, or in the library reading. All the new parts, they count. I’m not really dying today. No person ever died that had a family.”

2. In “Something Wicked This Way Comes,” his 1962 novel about an evil traveling carnival:

“The father hesitated only a moment. He felt the vague pain in his chest. If I run, he thought, what will happen? Is Death important? No. Everything that happens before Death is what counts. And we’ve done fine tonight. Even Death can’t spoil it.”

And …

“Death doesn’t exist. It never did, it never will. But we’ve drawn so many pictures of it, so many years, trying to pin it down, comprehend it, we’ve got to thinking of it as an entity, strangely alive and greedy. All it is, however, is a stopped watch, a loss, an end, a darkness. Nothing.”

3. In his 1953 dystopian novel “Fahrenheit 451”:

“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you’re there.

It doesn’t matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that’s like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.”

4. On his website, raybradbury.com, in December 2001, describing a childhood encounter with a carnival magician named Mr. Electrico. The experience inspired Bradbury to begin writing every day:

“Mr. Electrico was a fantastic creator of marvels. He sat in his electric chair every night and was electrocuted in front of all the people, young and old, of Waukegan, Illinois. When the electricity surged through his body he raised a sword and knighted all the kids sitting in the front row below his platform. I had been to see Mr. Electrico the night before. When he reached me, he pointed his sword at my head and touched my brow. The electricity rushed down the sword, inside my skull, made my hair stand up and sparks fly out of my ears. He then shouted at me, ‘Live forever!’

5. During a 2009 interview with “365 Days of Astronomy,” a daily astronomy podcast:

“I want everybody listening to me to think of Mars, only Mars, again and again and again. And think of going back to the moon and make sure the government hears this from you. These are bad times today. If you read the Wall Street Journal, forget it! You know? If you buy stocks sell ’em! Get rid of ’em! But listen to me and say, ‘Back to the Moon!’ The moon is everything and Mars is beyond, waiting for us. I want to be buried on Mars. I don’t want to be the first live person to arrive there. It’ll be too late. But I want to be the first dead person that gets there. I want to arrive in a Campbell’s soup can. Bury me on Mars in [the] thing called the Bradbury Abyss. They gotta name a place on Mars for me, and I will welcome that.”

Is It Possible to Reanimate the Dead?

Eli MacKinnon, Life’s Little Mysteries Contributor

Date: 08 February 2012 Time: 04:02 PM ET

In 1999, a Swedish medical student named Anna Bagenholm lost control while skiing and landed head first on a thin patch of ice covering a mountain stream. The surface gave way and she was pulled into the freezing current below; when her friends caught up with her minutes later, only her skis and ankles were visible above an 8-inch layer of ice.

Bagenholm found an air pocket and struggled beneath the ice for 40 minutes as her friends tried to dislodge her. Then her heart stopped beating and she was still. Forty minutes after that, a rescue team arrived, cut her out of the ice and administered CPR as they helicoptered her to a hospital. At 10:15 p.m., three hours and 55 minutes after her fall, her first heartbeat was recorded. Since then, she has made a nearly full recovery.

Bagenholm was the very definition of clinically dead: Her circulatory and respiratory systems had gone quiet for just over three hours before she was brought back to life. But what was happening in her body on a cellular level during the hours she wentwithout a heartbeat? Were her tissues dying along with her consciousness? And how much longer could she have gone with no blood circulation?

Can scientists learn anything from cases like this that could help them revive people who have been “dead” for an even longer period?

These are the types of questions that preoccupy the staff of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Resuscitation Science (CRS), a team of scientists, clinicians and engineers that’s revolutionizing the way we treat cardiac arrest and nudging forward the line between life and death. It all starts by learning what’s going on at the cellular level. According to Dr. Honglin Zhou, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and an associate director of the CRS, scientists generally agree that, unlike the larger organisms they compose, there are clear ways to tell whether an individual human cell is dead.

Every cell has a tight outer membrane that serves to separate its own contents from its surroundings and filter out the molecules that are nonessential to its function or survival. As a cell nears the end of its life, this protective barrier will begin to weaken and, depending on the circumstances of a cell’s death, one of three things will happen: It will send an “eat me” signal to a specialized maintenance cell that will then devour and recycle the ailing cell’s contents; it will quarantine and consume itself in a kind of programmed altruistic suicide; or it will rupture abruptly and spill its contents into the surrounding tissue, causing severe inflammation and further tissue damage.

In all cases, when the integrity of the outer membrane is compromised, a cell’s fate is sealed. “When the permeability of the membrane has increased to the point that the cellular contents are leaking out, you have reached a point of no return,” Zhou said.

Because even a mad scientist can’t put Humpty Dumpty’s cells back together again, a real-life Frankenstein’s monster is not a possibility in the foreseeable future. But, as it turns out, it can take some cells quite a long time to die.

When human cells are abruptly cut off from the steady supply of oxygen, nutrients and cleaning services that blood flow normally provides them, they can hold out in their membranes for a surprisingly long time. In fact, the true survivalists in your body may not die for many days after you’ve lost circulation, consciousness and most of the other things most people consider integral parts of living. If doctors can get to the patient before these cells have crashed, re-animation is still a possibility.

Unfortunately, the cells that are most sensitive to nutrient and oxygen deprivation are brain cells. Within five to 10 minutes of cardiac arrest, neuronal membranes will begin to rupture and irreparable brain damage will ensue. Making revival efforts more difficult, a surefire way to kill a cell that has been cut off from oxygen and nutrients for an extended period of time is to give it oxygen and nutrients. In a phenomenon called reperfusion injury, blood-starved cells that are abruptly reintroduced to a nutrient supply will quickly self-destruct.

The exact mechanisms of this process are still not well-understood, but Zhou speculates that when cells lose blood supply they may go into a kind of metabolic hibernation, with the goal of self-preservation. When the cells are roused from this state by an onslaught of oxygen and panicking white blood cells in an environment where toxins have accumulated, they are overwhelmed with inflammatory signals and they respond with self-immolation.

Though scientists don’t fully understand the causes of reperfusion injury, they know from experience that one thing that stifles its onset is to lower a patient’s body temperature. This is why Bagenholm, who arrived at the hospital with an internal body temperature of 56 degrees Fahrenheit (about 13 degrees Celsius), was able to recover and why one of the primary areas of research for the CRS is the application of so-called “therapeutic hypothermia.”

By rapidly lowering a patient’s body temperature to about 91 degrees F (33 degrees C) using an intravenous cooling solution or a kind of ice-pack bodysuit as soon as possible after a cardiac arrest, ER doctors have found they can greatly decrease the risk of reperfusion injury as they work to revive the patient. This process sometimes allows patients who have been clinically dead for tens of minutes to make full recoveries.

Whether this kind of medical miracle qualifies as reanimating the dead is not the principal concern of doctors, but survivors of clinical death do seem to have reemerged from an interlude of profound mental absence. Said Zhou: “I’ve met with people who have recovered from cardiac arrest, and it was just totally blank in their brain what happened. The brain’s not dead, but they couldn’t retrieve anything during that cardiac arrest stage.”